I write about the things I love. Mostly.

Christmas Renovation

I hope it is not too late to greet everyone a merry Christmas! I did not mean to be away from this space for so long, and despite my best intentions to write about life’s musings and mumblings, life does have a way of pushing me here and there and plans to write just go pfft. I have been busy at work, most of the time too tired to do anything else. It has been awhile since I last cooked that my husband and I settled in on dine in and take out foods. I feel like time goes by so fast when we are busy with life. Do you have the sense that life is speeding up too the older you get? Oh sigh.

I had a month long renovation done to our little house. When the house was bought eight years ago, there were too many unnecessary overhead storage and cabinets installed by the previous owners. One was hanging over the living room’s couch and the rest were in the bedrooms. I have always imagined them gone but finding a carpenter you can trust and leave your entire possession with was hard. So when we found out that our go to guy “Manny” was free and available, we booked him right away.

Living room’s overhead storage

This is an old photo of the second floor’s long creepy hallway

My sister who used to live with me moved to a dormitory where she now teaches and also now that we rely on a stay out cleaning lady, the maid’s room which is in the middle of the three bedrooms became a storage room. So I had two unused rooms that needed a makeover.

My sister’s bedroom. Overhead cabinets have been removed.

I decided to make it into a two bedroom house by removing the middle maid’s/storage room and turn it into a small library and a second living area.

The wall was removed to make it an open space.

I also had them moved the bedroom door to the middle and changed the single door into a double french door. Another thing I wanted to replace was the marbled floors but we have decided to stick with it for awhile. Living in the house while renovating and with a million things lying everywhere can be quite challenging and stressful.

Looking out from the bedroomLooking out from the bedroom. Doors and balcony railings have been installed.

I wanted all the walls to be in light colors. They say never ever paint a small dark room in white because without natural lighting, the room will just look dead and boring so I painted the shelves in light gray instead but kept the walls, doors and railings in white. I am not a designer so I always desperately look for design inspirations from magazines, internet and pinterest. I almost enrolled myself into a bookshelf styling class online.

I received so many suggestions on the balcony railings but I just used the same style as what we have on the existing stair railings.

This space used to be the long hallway.

This space used to be the maid’s room.

I added some shelves on both and upper side of the doors. On the bedroom’s side, closets were installed on both sides as well.
This is how it looks now…I’m bothered by the unpainted corners and edges but will get to it sometime.

It’s still a work in progress. I haven’t had the time to play with the accessories or the look just yet since it’s the busiest time of the year. I’m still on a lookout for the perfect rug to cover the floors. In the meantime, I added two black tapestry on both sides and just a small black rug in the middle. If you have any suggestions or comments on how to style a shelf, I will totally appreciate it!🙏🏼

I also left some snacks for my nephew and nieces who came to visit me for Christmas.

This pretty much sums up my last quarter of 2016. I am grateful everyday for all the blessings and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!